Strength and Beauty

Hi everyone! I know it's been just over a week since I posted, and I didn't meet my self-set two posts per week standard, but here I am. I can honestly say that I've been feeling so much stronger, and I'm really noticing changes in my body.

I had a great time doing the Seaway 5k Run last Saturday! It was really awesome to be a part of something so big, and I was thrilled that my Dad did it with me! When you first start running, it's an accomplishment just to finish a mile, and you don't think you could EVER do three! Not only did I do all three running the whole way, but I crushed my previous record! I finished in 33:08 which is awesome for me.

I had been training at around 5.2 or 5.3 mph on the treadmill which is around an 11.5 minute mile, and I hadn't been timing my outdoor runs. This came out to a 10.69 minute mile! That's an average of course, but it's still good for me. My first mile was like 12:10 because there's a hill right at the beginning, but when I hit my second mile, the time was 22 something! That's insane! I almost ran a 10 minute mile!!

I literally almost cried when I crossed the finish line and realized that I was going to finish in under 35 minutes. That had been my goal, but I wasn't holding my breath. What's even cooler is that the time I saw was 34:12 because I was seeing the gun time, not the chip time. For those of you who don't know, the gun time is just the time from when the race first begins until the time you finish. It doesn't account for how long it take you to move through the pack to actually cross the starting line. Your chip time actually measures your time from starting line to finish line. It wasn't until I got home that I found out my time was actually a minute better than I thought.

My next best time for a 5k was from my first race that I ran two years ago, and that was 38:24! There were 1296 people at the run, and I finished almost exactly middle of the pack, so I feel pretty good about that. :-)

So, outside of the world of running, I have had some other things going on. I recently signed up to sell Mary Kay, and should be able to get started next week! If you're interested in hosting a party, please let me know! I think this could be fun, and the extra income will be helpful.

Another thing happening, is Mariah getting her first tooth! I can't believe how big she's gotten, (even though she's still tiny), and that she's almost a year old now! It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that I was pregnant and waiting. I feel like I love her more and more everyday! God's design for women to be mothers is AMAZING, and I feel so blessed to be fulfilling that role.

Ok, I know this is getting a tad long, but I have a few more things...

I am still losing weight, but it seems to be coming off slower. I know that my eating habits haven't been the best lately, and that's probably the problem. I think I've been justifying it by saying, "well, I had a hard workout today." You guys know how that goes. Still, I don't feel like I'm eating that differently from before I was working out, so theoretically, I should still be losing, right? I mean, my workouts are pretty varied during the week so my body should be getting used to it. I have a mix of sprints, long distance, and intervals.

Also, I'm getting a little frustrated because I can't move this weight off my middle! I can see it coming off my face and upper body, but my belly and hips aren't budging! Any tips? I need to start doing strength training again. I'm so bad about that. I would just love to buy a different pant size, but more importantly to get my waist down to a heart healthy size. Right now, even though I'm in a healthy weight range, my waist is still classified as obese I think. I'm going to have to check to make sure though. I know for sure that it is at least in the overweight category. So, anyhow, any advice or tips would be appreciated.

Ok,... here's the number I'm sure you've been waiting for, and I hope it's not a disappointment now that I've waited so long to post it. My current weight is.... 148.8. I'm not sure how different that is from the last time I posted my numbers, but it is what it is.

More later!